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DX Group is set to have its shares suspended in the New Year after delaying the release of its audited annual results.

DX was scheduled to hold its annual general meeting yesterday (25 November) at which it was set to reveal its audited results but has been forced to delay their publication, and the AGM, due to a corporate governance investigation launched by its audit and risk committee.

In a statement the group said: “The company's audit and risk committee has recently raised a corporate governance inquiry relating to an internal investigation commenced during the financial year ended 3 July 2021.

“The inquiry has yet to be concluded, and the process will delay the completion of the audit, but will be expedited as quickly as possible."

It added that since it did not expect the annual report to be published by 2 January 2022, “trading in the company's ordinary shares will be suspended in accordance with AIM rule 19 on 4 January 2022.” Suspension from trading will be lifted with the publication of the Annual Report.

The group added that its trading remains in line with the board's expectations and that the board remains confident that DX Group is “well-placed” to continue to increase its market share and make progress over the new financial year.

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It said that its second major capital investment programme, which will see investment of between £20m-£25m in the business over the next three years, “underlines the board's positive view of the group's prospects”.

Chief executive Lloyd Dunn and DX Freight MD Paul Ibbetson exercised their confidence in the company today with the purchase of shares worth a combined total of over £115,000 yesterday afternoon.

Dunn bought 529,801 ordinary shares at an average price of 18.18 pence, giving him in total a 10.95% of the company's issued share capital, whilst Ibbetson purchased a 109,970 ordinary shares at the same price, giving him a total of 0.09% of the company's issued share capital.

Earlier this month DX published its unaudited results for the year to 3 July 2021, which revealed its first annual profit since Dunn and chairman Ron Series joined the business and put a turnaround plan in place.

The results showed a statutory pre-tax profit of £10.6m on a £382.1m turnover, which had been largely driven by the group’s freight division, which increased revenue by 32% to £223m and achieved an operating profit of £22.9m, compared to the previous year’s loss of £0.6m.

However the group said at the time that the Express division, which specialises in the express delivery of parcels and documents, was significantly impacted by coronavirus restrictions and lockdowns.

Announcing the results the group also unveiled a £20m-£25m capital investment programme in the business over the next three years and said six new sites had been opened during the period, including in Oxford, Burnley, Rotherham and Glasgow.